By Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com
Let’s face it; no one wants to look old.
Those first brow furrows or signs of sagging can send even the most confident guy or gal in search of the latest anti-aging regime or cosmetic procedure.
And believe me, if you’ve thought about a little “touch up” to keep you in the game at work or up with your social circle, you’re not alone.
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, women – and men – underwent 13.4 million minimally invasive facial rejuvenation procedures in 2013.
“We see everything, people from their early 30s to people in their late 70s who want a little rejuvenation,” Dr. Kimberley Rutherford, a board certified surgeon with Ear, Nose & Throat Surgeons of Western New England, told PRIME.
But with so many rejuvenation treatments, what’s the right way to attack your personal aging bugaboo?
The answer to that question, according to Rutherford, depends on what you are hoping to achieve – and where on your face you want to turn back time.
Frown Lines – Freeze ‘Em
If those furrows in your forehead seem to be getting deeper by the day, or you’ve started to notice “11s” above the bridge of your nose, you’re partially to blame. Our personal habits – like raising an eyebrow to emphasize a point or scrunching your eyebrows together when you’re concentrating – create movements that eventually etch themselves into our skin.
The best defense against this kind of aging – stop the movement.
That’s where products such as Botox, Dysport and Xeomin – all derivatives of botulinum toxin – come in.
“Botox is a medicine that you inject directly into muscles to relax them,” Rutherford said. Technically, the injection blocks the movement signal from nerve cells to a muscle, reducing the muscle’s ability to move and smoothing out the contraction that causes a wrinkle.
It can take five to seven days for a patient to see maximal results from a Botox injection. Results usually last from three to four months before a touchup is required. Xeomin and Dysport also take several days to begin showing results.
Locally, the cost of a Botox-type treatment is $9 to $15 per unit, with most patients requiring 20 to 50 units.
The “Parentheses” – Plump ‘Em
One of the most distressing signs of aging for women in their middle years are the lines around the mouth, and the loss of fullness in their cheeks.
“Dermal fillers are what we use in the lower face to restore volume; including plumping the cheeks, filling out the lips, and reducing the marionette lines [lines that run straight down from the corner of the mouth], and nasolabial folds [lines that run from the nose to the creases of the mouth- the ‘parentheses’],” Rutherford said. In this area of facial rejuvenation, Rutherford said clients have more choices, as “There are always new fillers coming out.”
For example, Rutherford said the Food and Drug Administration recently approved Belotero – an injectable dermal filler that has been used in Europe for years to soften superficial lines around the mouth, for use in the U.S.
Results with Belotero are reported to last about a year.
Rutherford said Radiesse – a calcium-based injectable filler approved by the FDA in 2006 – is “great to plump the cheeks and use for deeper injections around the lower face.”
And another popular filler – Juvederm – recently added a new version to its line called Juvederm Voluma XC. This newer version, Rutherford noted, “is FDA approved to volumize the cheeks [and] results can last up to 2 years.”
Results achieved with the original version of Juvederm, and similar products, last from six to nine months.
In this area, the cost of treatment with dermal fillers is $500 to $700 per 1cc vial, with patients requiring up to three vials per treatment.
Receding Hair – Restore It
Rutherford said men – and women – suffering from hair loss (alopecia) have several options to help arrest the fallout and fill in the gaps. Among the medical approaches to halting hair loss are the use of Minoxidil – the generic name of the product Rogaine – and Finasteride 1 mg. – the generic name of a product known as Propecia. Originally approved by the FDA to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), Rutherford said patients using Propecia reported hair growth as a side effect. The drug is now also prescribed to treat hair loss.
Surgically, Rutherford said there are two approaches to achieve hair restoration. Follicular hair transplantation, she said, allows a physician to remove hair from the back of the scalp – usually in a strip – and transplant those hairs to an area of hair loss in naturally occurring clusters of one to four hairs. A newer procedure called follicular unit extraction (FUE) allows direct removal of the follicular units directly from the back of the scalp.
“By only extracting the follicular units one at a time, we are able to avoid the long scar.” Rutherford said. The four-to-eight hour procedure, done in-office under local anesthesia, results in “a much more natural appearance” that the original hair plug procedure.
The cost of hair restoration is determined by the procedures required.
Dr. Kimberley Rutherford received her medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery – at the University of Connecticut Medical Center. To further her education, she completed a fellowship at Rousso Facial Plastic Surgery Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama where she received advanced training in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Hair Restoration Surgery.
